Regardless, McNiel snatched my attention when he told me the main architect on the project and one of its chief proponents thus far is John Torgerson, who runs Torgerson Design Architects, with offices on the Ozark downtown square.

At an Aug. 14 information meeting at the Ozark Community Center — audiotaped by McNiel's wife Marcella — Torgerson was front-and-center extolling the virtues of the development and the developer — who is paying him.

"I’ve worked with the Bass Pro company for, I think, 15 years, It’s a pleasure. Very first-class company. They do things right," he said.

I called Torgerson and asked if he thought he had a conflict of interest or the appearance of one.

“Absolutely not," he says.

“In small communities, we wear many hats. It’s a great project. It’s great for the community.”

I don't know the definition of "small community," but the current estimated population of Ozark is 20,000.

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Stephen Childers, city administrator for the City of Ozark, talks about the Morris family's plans for the Ozark Mill project along the Finley River in on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018.(Photo: Andrew Jansen/News-Leader)

I checked and Torgerson apparently is right. No law prevents him from doing what he's doing — as long as he doesn't cast a vote on the project.

But I can understand if McNiel and his neighbors have a sense of not being able to fight City Hall.

It's tough when one-seventh of City Hall — six council members and a mayor — is on the developer's payroll.

Not only does a former Ozark Mountain Daredevil, Larry Lee, live on the street, but it's where Johnny Morris's father once called home.

To begin with, McNiel says, the city had no business allowing Morris to pick up the 400-ton mill and place it on Fourth Street, south of West McCracken Road. In essence, he says, the city vacated a public street.

Not true, says Childers.

The city has a license agreement with the developer that allows the mill to sit there while a new and higher foundation is constructed.

But it should be noted, Childers adds, the city does, in fact, plan to vacate Fourth Street south of West McCracken Road.

"But it has nothing to do with the mill project," he says.

The closing has been in the works for a while and is part of a $4 million road project in which the city is sharing costs with the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Robinson tells me he and his wife had just sunk $100,000 into renovating their home at 804 N. Fourth St. when they learned that the house next door will become a boathouse, with canoes and kayaks for rent.

The house that will become a boathouse is owned by Morris — as are two more on the block, the house across the street and the house next to it.

Approximately 25 houses are on the street.

In August, McNiel says, Megan Morris presented a diagram of the development in which the words identifying the house as a future "boathouse" were covered up.

Some of the residents on North Fourth Street -- North of West McCracken Road -- questioned why parts of the Ozark Mill plan were covered up in a public meeting.(Photo: submitted)

I spoke to Morris on Friday.

"We absolutely never tried to cover anything up," she says.

The wording was inaccurate. That's why it was covered up, she says.

She tells me this is the first large project she has captained for her family.

She has met with residents of Fourth Street, has listened to them and will continue to do so. She says she understands the character and history of the street.

After all, she says, she grew up in Ozark, and her grandparents, as mentioned, lived on North Fourth Street.

She assures me and she assures the concerned residents that there will be no retail on the street — other than the boathouse.

But McNiel fears the Morris family will slowly "pick off" homes over years, or perhaps decades, once the zoning change is approved.

Not true, says Morris.

"Our intent is to preserve the beauty and the character of the neighborhood."

A chapel, a historic bridge and 20 rental cabins

Her father has owned the mill since 1993.

The development has various phases, she says. The deadline for complete build-out is 2038.

Megan Morris said in August she expects an ice cream and coffee shop to open in the spring and for the renovated mill to open next fall.

She gave me an overall view of plans for the approximately 40-acre project; she would not provide an estimated cost figure.

Phase 1 consists of the mill and what is known as the Wheeler building, an old brick structure next to the mill.

The mill itself, once placed back on the river's edge, will have a restaurant and bar and possibly a brewery.

In addition, it will be a working mill, she says.

The project is called Finley Farms because there will be chickens on the property, as well as, perhaps bees and goats.

Morris says she has plans to move a 19th century chapel to the location, near the river, and plans to relocate the old Riverside Bridge, which is closed north of town, to the project. It will serve as a pedestrian pathway.

Her father bought the bridge, which is near the site of the former Riverside Inn.

At the August informational meeting, Morris confused a few residents when she said a "small boutique hotel" would be constructed in a later phase.

She corrected herself at that meeting — and told me again on Friday — that it won't be a hotel but approximately 20 cabins to be built on a wooded 14 acres the Morris family owns west of Fourth Street.

One of the homes owned by the Morris family — at Fourth and McCracken — will be used for renting and checking into the cabins.

Parking for the cabins will not be on Fourth Street, she tells me.

All in all, Robinson says, it sounds like a wonderful project.

"They could have put a big hotel on that 14 acres," he says.

Nevertheless, he's worried about the boathouse that will be next door, as well as the future of a neighborhood he loves.

These are the views of News-Leader columnist Steve Pokin, who has been at the paper 6½ years, and over his career has covered everything from courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 417-836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 N. Boonville, Springfield, MO 65806.